Bogus scientist jailed for child rape

A BOGUS forensic scientist who conned his way into hundreds of trials has been jailed indefinitely after being unmasked as a child sex predator. Gene Morrison, 51, used his 'eloquence and charm' to groom vulnerable young girls to satisfy his perverted fantasies, raping two youngsters aged just 10 and 11.

A BOGUS forensic scientist who conned his way into hundreds of trials has been jailed indefinitely after being unmasked as a child sex predator.

Gene Morrison, 51, used his 'eloquence and charm' to groom vulnerable young girls to satisfy his perverted fantasies, raping two youngsters aged just 10 and 11.

His four victims, aged between eight and 15, only came forward after publicity when he went on trial for posing as an expert witness in court cases.

Morrison tricked judges, barristers, solicitors and police into believing he was qualified in forensics, giving his 'expert' opinion on the evidence.

In fact he left school with no qualifications and his degrees were downloaded from the internet for a fee from bogus US universities.

Morrison, who was known as 'Rocky' in his home town of Hyde, Greater Manchester, was convicted in February 2007 of perjury, perverting the course of justice and obtaining money by deception and branded an “inveterate and compulsive liar” as he was jailed for five years.

It was then the allegations of sex attacks surfaced and police were called by a number of his victims.

Described as a 'Walter Mitty' character 'Rocky' would target vulnerable young girls acting as a 'father figure' plying them with presents before starting to grope and sexually assault his victims, then raping them.

Often the girls felt flattered and he made them feel 'special', Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

Families often trusted him because of his apparent good job, as a forensic expert, and his religion - even taking the girls to 7th Day Adventist Churches.

Passing sentence Judge Timothy Mort said: “Underneath it, you were utterly ruthless, because you targeted those who were vulnerable and put their trust in you.

“When things were not going your way you were not slow to resort to violence.

“You are, whilst charming, utterly ruthless as a sexual predator.”

Two of his victims wept in court as victim impact statements were read aloud by Vanessa Thomson, prosecuting.

One girl wrote: “He was a very important person with a very important job and I was just a dirty schoolgirl. The mental scars will remain with me forever.”

Judge Mort gave the defendant an indeterminate sentence for public protection and ordered he must serve a minimum of seven-and-a-half years before parole.

But he will only be released when the Probation Service deem it is safe to do so.

He was convicted of three counts of child rape, six counts of indecent assault, four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and one count of perverting the course of justice, after a four week trial in October. All were specimen charges representing just some of his conduct.

The jury, who were not told of his past as a fake witness for fear of prejudicing the trial, failed to reach verdicts on 14 other sex charges involving six other women.

Predatory

Outside court Detective Constable Kath McKenzie from Greater Manchester Police, said: “Morrison is a predatory sex abuser who inflicted untold misery on four girls over the course of several years.

“No child or teenager should have to go through ordeals like this, and the fact that most of them felt unable to talk about it for years, shows how frightened they must have been.

“Morrison thought of himself as something of a charmer, but he could be intimidating and was clearly able to scare his victims into remaining silent.

“Some of his victims have now grown into young women, but some of them are still teenagers. However, they all have one thing in common - they will never be able to forget what has happened to them and have been scarred for life.

“I only hope they can take some comfort from the fact that Morrison has been punished for his crimes.”

Morrison, who continues to protest his innocence, was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for life and banned from having unsupervised access to any child under 16.